How to boost conversion rate optimization

Most business owners think that a nice-looking website is guaranteed to attract lots of paying clients. And sadly, many web designers share their opinion as well. While I don't dislike the idea of building gorgeous sites (I'm the guy responsible with graphic design here, after all) I guarantee that there are lots of amazing looking sites which fail to attract leads, and then turn them into paying customers.

Each website must be built with user engagement in mind. Therefore, the goal of this article is to show a few simple tips that are guaranteed to boost conversion rate optimization (CRO).

Let's discuss some color theory first. People have invented colors schemes for a good reason: they work! Colors have the potential to create appeal, and when several colors are used together, they can work in harmony, making people trust your business and open their wallets, or they can make website visitors push their browsers' "Back" buttons right away. So, be sure to choose a color scheme that has the potential to increase conversions.

I'd like to tell you that blue or red or green will always work fine, but I'd be lying you. Each industry has its own specifics, and you will have to test several combinations of colors.  Then, optimize the best performing color scheme; play with the size of the page elements, the color of the CTA button, and so on.

For best results, look up "color psychology" on the web and you will discover that gender, age and culture will significantly impact the way in which people perceive colors. This means that you should define your audience clearly in the beginning, and then create landing pages that "speak" to them.

To make a conversion happen, the user must take action. A website visitor may decide to sign up for a 15-day no obligation trial of your services, for example. But this won't happen until the user has clicked an "I'm in!" button, of course. It's your task to create the needs blocks of texts, an image and/or a video that will inspire the visitor to click that button.

Yes, content is an essential element of your site's design as well. You want to lower the entry barrier as much as possible by keeping things simple, though. Don't force website visitors to read your carefully crafted literary masterpieces; ensure that the end result is easy to understand and encourages the user to take action. Words that highlight benefits, such as "free trial" or "20% discount", can work wonders.

It goes without saying that you should run A/B testing (aka split tests) at all times. With A/B tests, you will get to compare the performance of two different versions of your pages. There are specialized tools and services that allow you to create several versions of a landing page using an "what you see is what you get" environment, and then measure the conversion rate of each version.

You can go from minor edits, such as font size changes, to full website redesigns, and then evaluate the results. However, it is recommended to tweak a single design element at a time (the color of the CTA button, for example) because this will make it much easier to discover the formula for a winning landing page.

With A/B testing, companies can make small changes that will have a significant impact on their bottom line and won't cost an arm and a leg. Specialists who run these tests continually will often increase conversion rates to a respectable 10% (or so). By creating lots of variations and then testing them, entrepreneurs will be able to determine which version of the landing page delivers the best results, and then apply the gathered insight across the entire site.